Assessment of Peripheral Blood Indices in Patients with Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma

Abstract

Background: The most prevalent thyroid cancer is papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), frequently has an optimistic prognosis. However, the need for basic and credible biomarkers to assist in distinguish between benign and malignant thyroid nodules is highlighted by concerns for overdiagnosis and overtreatment. Complete blood count (CBC)-derived peripheral blood cell indices have become promising markers of tumour behaviour and systemic inflammation.

Method: There were 63 participants in this case-control study: 10 healthy controls, 37 patients with benign thyroid nodules, and 16 patients with histopathologically confirmed PTC. Inflammatory and platelet-related indices, as well as the lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (LMR), were among the clinical, demographic, and CBC parameters that were examined. One-way ANOVA and chi-square tests were used for statistical comparisons; p < 0.05 was deemed statistically significant.

Result: Patients with PTC had a significantly higher frequency of lymph node metastases (p = 0.042). When compared to benign cases, patients with PTC had a significantly lower LMR and a significantly higher granulocyte percentage (p < 0.05). While the platelet-large cell ratio (P-LCR) did not significantly differ between groups, several CBC parameters, such as white blood cell subtypes and platelet indices, did.

Conclusion: Granulocyte percentage, platelet parameters, and LMR are among the peripheral blood cell indices that are correlated with papillary thyroid carcinoma and may be useful supplementary biomarkers for distinguishing benign from malignant thyroid nodules. To validate their clinical applicability, more prospective research is required.

Keywords:

Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma, LMR, P-LCR

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